Happily Ever After

Three~ Nothing Is Promised

Kris

After a few games I was starting to find my stride in the baseball world. Luckily for me there was a lot of guys on this team willing to help me out. Give me rides around town and bailing me out on the road when I inevitably get lost. I was quite new to all of this after spending only a year in the minors and being in Chicago for just a week now. But I'm learning as I go and I had a good feeling about all of this.

I end up in Cincinnati before we could go back to Chicago for a home stand. I sit in my hotel room staring at my phone as I saw Jenna's number sitting there. I hadn't called or texted her yet because I was nervous. She was the type of girl who won't take me just making up crap to talk to her. It seems like she's had enough crap in her life to know the difference between sincere and fake and I don't want to be another guy in her life not treating her right. She was a beautiful girl and I know that someone didn't treat her in the way they should have. You can see it in the way she shuts people out. How her best friends are a 80 something year old couple who visit her every day at the cafe.

And I just wanted to know more about her. I don't know why but I needed to know. I wanted her to be a part of my life and for her to be a part of mine. But I barley know anything about her and I don't know how much she's willing to tell me.

But I guess you never know until you ask.

So I press call on my phone and she picks up eventually.

"Howdy stronger" she answers making me smile.

"Hey! It's Kris" I say and she gasps.

"Wow, and to think that I just convinced myself that you weren't going to call me" she claims and I chuckle.

"I wanted to. So many times I dialed your number but I never pressed call. I wasn't sure what to say" I admit.

"Do I make you nervous" she asks with her thick accent.

"A little" I admit.

"Well that's just silly. Trust me I am no one to be getting nervous around" she insists.

"You're just intimidating I guess. You seem really smart and really heart heavy and beautiful-" I trail off.

"You think I'm beautiful" she asks.

The line falls silent because I didn't want her to think I was just another guy interested in her looks. A girl like that gets a lot of men hitting on her, she had to. But I wasn't going to lie and say I don't think she was beautiful, because I do. I think she's stunning in the most spectacular ways. I just wasn't sure she wanted to hear that.

"I do. I think you're not like anyone I've ever known, not like anyone I've ever seen. When I got to Chicago I knew that I was going to experience things unlike anything I had ever been able to think up. And then you walked into my life and I was hooked. I don't know, I can't explain it" I try.

"I've talked to a lot of boys in my lifetime, but none of them talked to me like you do. And I can't figure out if that means this time things can be different or I'm going to get hurt in a way that was different than all the other times" she claims.

"I'm not going to hurt you" I promise.

"That's a promise you can't keep baseball boy. Even when we're not trying to hurt people, it still hurts. It's like saying "no offense" right before saying something offensive like it changed a damn thing.

Life ain't about getting hurt, it's about how we get through it. And I've been through it all, the stupid relationships, the unfaithful ones, the abusive ones and everything in between. People I thought would take a bulletproof for me ended up being the one pulling the trigger. The people I swore I would never talk to again are my closest friends. Things I said I would never do is my every day life now.

Nothing in this life is promised" she explains.

I sit there as I stare up at my ceiling. I've made so many promises in my life, but she was right. She was absolutely right. There isn't a damn thing that I can promise and I forget that. I think that because I've had it so easy that I believe that there's things in life that are guaranteed. But the only guarantee is that nothing is guaranteed.

"I'm sorry so many people hurt you. But I don't want to be one of those people" I insist.

"You can't be if I don't let you make that mistake" she claims.

"And what mistake is that" I wonder.

"Getting caught up with me" she claims.

"If that's true why did you give me your number" I tease.

She lets out a long sigh before speaking again. "I don't know. I don't want you to become the next victim of "everything that can go wrong will go wrong" which seems to air every day of my life. But I also don't not want you a part of my life" she claims.

I smile to myself as I laugh. "So you like me" I accuse.

"I usually go for the rough and ripped rodeo type. The guy with tattoos and his head shaved. But maybe pretty boy Prince is what I should have been looking for this whole time" she jokes.

"I'm no prince" I defend.

"Oh sweetie, you most defiantly are. Even Joe agrees" she claims.

"I kinds miss hearing him and Maggie go at it. That's the kind of entertainment you don't find at a McDonald's breakfast" I admit.

"They keep things interesting. That's for sure" she giggles.

"And how have you been since I last saw you" I wonder.

The line falls silent as I look at it to make sure I didn't drop a call. "Hello" I ask.

"Sorry. Just not used to people asking how I'm doing. It's always been the other way around" she admits.

"Well I'm a very good listener, so you can trust me" I assure her.

"I'm starting to think so" she agrees.

"Well I want to know. How have you been" I ask.

"Just taking it day by day really. My life, it's pretty crazy. There's always something going on but I know that I'm going to make it. I have to" she claims.

"Well I can't wait to see you when I'm back. You working next week" I ask.

"Every morning" she promises.

"I'll see you then" I say.